Smith’s Hill High School student Ellen Zheng is one of 46 students across NSW who received the highest possible ATAR of 99.95. That wasn’t the only good news for the Wollongong-based selective high school. Smith’s Hill students Layla Spareburg, Andrew Virgona, Cathleen Li and Marten Deng also scored more than 99 in their ATAR. Ellen, whose real name is Tianyue, also did the HSC in 2017, finishing first in the state in the popular Japanese language course. At the time Ellen told the Mercury she hoped to do a course relating to maths or science at the University of Sydney. Smith’s Hill principal David Deitz said the 18-year-old was weighing up her options but was still keen to pursue a career in science or mathematics. The Illawarra Grammar School duo Risini Gamage and Ji Yoon Kang also did well, scoring 99.6 and 98.75 respectively in their ATAR. St Mary Star of the Sea College student Maya Francis also excelled, scoring an ATAR of 99.05. The 18-year-old felt she would score in the mid-98’s but was ecstatic when she saw there was a 99 in her ATAR score. “I cried when I saw the score,” Maya told the Mercury. “I was so happy. My parents also were thrilled, as were my grandparents.” Read more: HSC 2018: The Illawarra’s best performing schools revealed Nearly 56,130 students are eligible for an ATAR this year. Of these, 16.7 per cent got a rank of 90.00 or above. About 33.3 per cent got at least 80.00 and 49.5 per cent got at least 70.00. Read more: Smith’s Hill High School and girls dominate HSC all-rounders list This year's median ATAR was 69.65, and any students with HSC marks between 70 and 80 would have achieved this median. Of the top ATAR recipients, 19 were girls and 27 were boys. However, the median ATAR for girls was 71.1, significantly higher than the median ATAR for boys of 67.8.